Craft Madness

My craft skills have been put to the test these past couple of weeks. I'll let you be the judge on just how much skill I actually have...just keep negative comments to yourself. :)

My SIL got married Sunday at The Chimneys of Big Canoe. Which I must add here that she was a G.O.R.G.E.O.U.S. bride! I won't blog about her wedding though because I'm sure you will be able to read about it on her blog found here once she returns from Hawaii. I just wanted to share this special gift I made for her to use at her reception as decor on one of the chimneys.

I began this project two weeks ago when I went to JoAnn and purchased a paper mache letter and all the other supplies from Michaels (JoAnn did not have any vintage-looking purple paper). The first and simplest step was painting the letter completely in purple.

While the paint was drying I began cutting out petals from cardstock to assemble a flower that I felt would give the letter some extra spice and a vintage feel. I used this template for the largest petals, this template for the middle petals, and this template for the smallest petals. I finished off the flower with a silver brad in the middle. Note: to give the flower it's character, I rolled up each petal. For the largest set of petals, I rolled up each petal but then folded back every other petal to make it more natural looking.

Once the paint was dry, I traced the paper mache letter onto the cardstock I bought to cover the front of the letter. This is the point when the craft became difficult since the largest piece of cardstock you can buy is 12x12" and the letter was 23.5". I decided to piece the paper together like patchwork. For a more vintage feel, I tore the edges.

I then used Mod Podge to glue on each piece.

I was hoping the seams would give it more of a vintage feel anyway, but they just looked awkward. If I had to do it over again, I would have bought a 12" letter instead to avoid making seams. To cover them up, I made more flowers and placed them strategically all over the letter. I also painted small wooden letters ("S" and "J"..for their first names) and hot glued them on. Here's the finished project again...

And the special message I wrote for the happy couple on the back...

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As for the other small crafts I mentioned previously...

I went to a Ladies' Night Out with a friend a couple of weeks ago and we made this festive seasonal pumpkin which is a toilet paper roll covered in a layer of newspaper, topped with fabric and a stick stuck down the middle of the TP roll to hold in the fabric. EASY PEASY! (I made the brown one on the right.)

Brody was sent home with his first homework assignment: to make a turkey from his hand and foot prints. It's going to be used as part of the decorations at his preschool's Thanksgiving lunch this Thursday. You can find the directions here. I chose to use some of my scraps of cardstock for the feathers to give it a personal touch.

Needless to say, he sat while I traced his hands and feet, then played while I finished cutting out each print and assembled the turkey. Let's just hope this is not an indication of how Brody's homework gets done in the future!

1 comment:

OOoh what a nice pumpkin! Where's my plug? I thought you had my back? ;)Okay, I would pay $15 (if/when I have it) to have you make one of those for me-custom. Okay maybe I would pay $20. ETSY girl. ETSY!